


1 - Shaky Hands

by VickeyStar



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Higgie just wants to chill with her boys, It's a bit more psychological whump than physical, Juliet Higgins - centric, Pre-Series, Prompt number 1, Shaky Hands, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 20:23:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20841476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickeyStar/pseuds/VickeyStar
Summary: The room is dark, only a couple of decorative lamps on, and for a second when the screen lights back up, she swears there’s someone standing in the corner of the room.





	1 - Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This is pre-series.   
Enjoy!   
~SleevesCakes/VickeyStar

She doesn’t know why she’s so shaken, tonight.

There are no notable anniversaries, and she hasn’t been near any of her mental triggers, but there’s just something… strange, in the air.

It puts her on edge, a nervous feeling in her stomach that she can’t quite put into words, not that there’s anyone to tell.

Kumu has gone to her cousin’s house, taking the lads for extra security during the night, Thomas Magnum and his boys making a bonfire down by the guest house as Higgins stays in her office.

She’s abruptly pulled out of her own thoughts as the screen of her laptop shuts off, and it’s a moment before she moves to run her finger lightly over the mousepad.

The room is dark, only a couple of decorative lamps on, and for a second when the screen lights back up, she _swears_ there’s someone standing in the corner of the room.

Juliet stands in a hurry, chair rolling back on its wheels as she stares harder at that particular corner.

She reaches for the weighted flashlight she keeps by her desk, turning it on and shining it at the corner almost accusingly, to see nothing.

Juliet frowns, slowly bringing the flashlight around the room as her eyes glance uneasily around the area.

The flashlight’s beam is shaky, and that’s when she realizes.

Her hands are actually shaking.

There’s another moment when she simply stares at them in shock, her hands not having shaken in at least a decade.

She takes a breath, ignoring how that has become shaky too, looking out across the field toward the light of the bonfire.

She doesn’t know why the night’s got her so unnerved, but she does know that she doesn’t want to be alone, right now.

Juliet closes the laptop with a quiet _click_, shoes silent on the tiled floor as she unplugs it and grabs her phone, making sure her gun is in its ankle holster as she grabs her house keys.

She steps out the back door of the main house, turning to lock the door with a shaky hand as her other arm hugs the laptop to her side.

She drops the keys twice.

Higgins only considers how strange her joining them would be halfway through the walk there, hearing the laughter of the four men as they crack jokes and rib each other goodnaturedly.

She considers going back, for a second, but she’s not entirely sure that she’d be able to unlock the door at this point, and she’s already halfway there.

Nuzo is the first to notice her as she approaches, a warm smile on his face as he gestures her toward the group.

She sends him a small smile in return as Thomas, Rick, and T.C. finally pick up on her presence, expressions equally as open and welcoming.

Magnum grins, eyes already teasing as he holds out his arms.

“Tell me what rule I broke, and I’ll fix it. I promise.”

Higgins huffs a chuckle, nerves easing a bit as she remembers the agreement they made for this bonfire to occur.

“No broken rules, I just wanted to see what all the excitement was about.” She replies, suddenly nervous in a different way, unable to express exactly what she wants to the group.

She can see T.C. and Nuzo share a glance as Thomas smirks, Rick leaving the guest house.

When exactly he had entered, Juliet doesn’t know.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Higgins?” T.C. suggests, smiling as he pats a garden chair.

Its back is to the wall of the house, easily defensible and not cornered.

She smiles gratefully as she moves to sit, putting the laptop on her lap as Rick places an opened, cold beer on the small table next to her.

She tries to refuse it, but he brushes it off.

“I grabbed two anyways, you might as well.” He says, still smiling.

She nods again, thanking him as he passes her toward his own seat.

Magnum studies the majordomo for a moment, before he seems to pick up on what the other men had already seen.

The group settles back in, fading to background noise as Juliet goes back to typing away on her computer, occasionally sipping the beer and joining in on the conversation.

Whenever her hands get a tad too shaky, the feeling growing in her chest, she just glances up to meet someone’s understanding eyes as Nuzo or T.C., both on either side of her, point at the screen and ask what she’s doing.

By the time she’s finished explaining, she’s calm enough to continue working.

When she closes her laptop, work all finished, the fire’s slowly calling it quits as the men around it get more subdued.

A glance at her phone lets her know it’s three in the morning, and she’s fiercely glad that it’s a Friday.

“Well,” she stands. “You boys are asleep on your feet, and I need to be up early, tomorrow.”

Thomas huffs.

“C’mon, Higgins, even you can take a morning off to sleep in, every once in a while.” He says with an easy grin, tiredly helping a zombified Nuzo to his feet as Rick tries to balance an empty beer bottle on a sleeping T.C.’s forehead.

The majordomo simply shrugs, knowing that she has to be awake at eight for an important delivery.

It’s when the four men start heading into the guest house that she remembers that there’s only one bed in there, and only one couch big enough for the men.

She glances back at the path toward the main house, knowing the eight guest rooms intimately.

“Some of you can stay in the main house for the night, if you’d like.”

The men pause, sending telling glances at each other as they consider.

Nuzo and T.C. face her, arguably the two biggest men of the group.

“We’d love to, ma’am.” T.C. accepts, Nuzo nodding along as Rick jokingly protests.

“Come on, guys—”

Whatever else he was going to say is cut off as Magnum pulls him into the guest house with a grin and a cheerful goodnight to the trio.

“Alright. Come along, then, boys.” Juliet turns on her heel and starts down the path.

She hears two pairs of feet follow her after a pause, and she hugs the laptop to her side as she pulls the house keys out.

When they get to the back door, she’s pleasantly surprised to find that she has no problem unlocking it, and there are very few words as she leads the two men to the closest guest rooms and heads to her office to drop her laptop off.

She plugs the device back in, eyes glancing to the corner one last time as she sees nothing there.

Juliet smiles, hands steady as she walks to her own room, falling asleep easily.

Sure, she’ll be exhausted tomorrow, but it’s worth it when Nuzo and T.C. give her an open invitation to join the group whenever she wants to.

She accepts it, of course.

The next time she shows up at the bonfire that is quickly becoming a weekly event, there’s already a cold beer and warm burger waiting for her.

edn


End file.
